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May 30, 2011

G54: White Sox 7, Red Sox 3

Lester struggled through yet another start (5.2-8-7-4-4, 127) and the Red Sox failed to score in the later innings despite a couple of small, but promising, rallies.

Lester had thrown 96 pitches through five innings, and that probably should have been the end of his night. However, the game was tied 3-3, meaning that Lester (heaven forbid!) would not qualify for the "W", so Terry Francona left him on the mound to face six more batters and throw 31 additional pitches in the sixth inning. The Red Sox bullpen did not stir at all until Chicago's first batter had singled (and Lester was at 103 pitches).

Lester recorded two outs, but he also loaded the bases, and Alexei Ramirez snapped the 3-3 tie by blooping his 127th pitch down the right field line for a two-run double. Wheeler came in and allowed a single to Carlos Quentin, which scored two inherited runners.

Adrian Gonzalez (who hit his 10th homer in the first) and David Ortiz both singled in the sixth, but, with one out, Carl Crawford lined to right and Drew Sutton struck out. With two out in the eighth, Kevin Youkilis singled and Ortiz walked. Crawford, facing Matt Thornton, struck out swinging.

Dustin Pedroia's single scored Jarrod Saltalamacchia and Jacoby Ellsbury in the third inning.

Also: Quentin was awarded first base in both the first and fifth innings after being hit by Lester. However, since Quentin made absolutely no attempt to avoid either pitch, home plate umpire Marty Foster should have followed Rule 6.08(b)(2) and called each pitch a ball and kept Quentin in the batters box.

6.08. The batter becomes a runner and is entitled to first base without liability to be put out (provided he advances to and touches first base) when ... (b) He is touched by a pitched ball which he is not attempting to hit unless ... (2) The batter makes no attempt to avoid being touched by the ball;

If the ball is in the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a strike, whether or not the batter tries to avoid the ball. If the ball is outside the strike zone when it touches the batter, it shall be called a ball if he makes no attempt to avoid being touched.

A cool note, from Peter Abraham: Since debuting with the Red Sox last September 14, lefty Rich Hill has made 14 appearances (12 innings) without allowing a run. It's the most scoreless appearances to start a Red Sox career since (at least) 1919. Hill has 12 strikeouts in eight innings this season.

Reliever Franklin Morales was placed on the 15-day disabled list with a left forearm strain and Michael Bowden was recalled from Pawtucket.

After Chicago lost to the Blue Jays in 14 innings yesterday, the ever-entertaining White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen had a few words for fans who have criticized some of his decisions.

They only remember the 2005 [championship] team in 2020 when we come here in a wheelchair. "Oh, yeah, thank you." As soon as you leave the ballpark, they don't care about you anymore. ... The monuments, the statues they have for you, they pee on it when they drunk. ... "Thank you for coming" for 30 minutes for all the suffering you did all your life, day in and day out.

I wish I didn't feel anything for this game. I wish I didn't care about the White Sox, what the general manager, fans and media think. I wish I could say, "#&*@, I don't give a #&*@." I can't. I try to put it in my mind that I don't [care], but I can't because I love baseball, I love this organization and this is a job I want to do.

After the media published his comments, Guillen got even angrier and headed over to Twitter:

Thas bull crap what the media print today about celular field and the fans

The should print and said everything I said thas low blow and imrresponsable no clas

Press asociacion print you name who put that today tha will be fear

I have the enterviu on tape I whish I can sue then thas a very low blow

Allways take stuff out the contest put people in bad situation to people can read then

What a hell I going to say bad thing about white sox fan they are behind me all my carrer a less most of then

Also: White Sox starter John Danks called Toronto's Jose Bautista "a fucking clown" for the way he reacted after making an out in the fourth inning yesterday.

50 comments:

I think Danks is just confused because he throws with the wrong arm. Not even about you, kid. I suppose when you're 0-8 you become a bit touchy about the unwritten rules (which, in this case, he seems to have invented on the spot). That's surprising, the White Sox announcers love it. Danks could have pulled out a shotgun and started shooting at the fans and Hawk Harrelson would say: "I understand where Danksie is coming from. I don't blame him. These fans have been booing a lot."

Hawk also chimes in with the typical witch-hunt nonsense on Bautista: How original

(Yes, corking a bat is the key to being a good hitter. Give a corked bat to Pee Wee Herman and I'm sure he'd hit .340)

Also: somehow Ozzie is more articulate than 99% of coaches in pro sports even if his grammar isn't perfect. Amazing how that works.

What's odd about this special Memorial Day ceremony for today's Fenway game is, if you didn't have a calendar in front of you to remind you it was Memorial Day, there would be nothing to tip you off that it was a holiday. It's essentially exactly the same as every other Fenway game opening.

These Verizon ads where average joes look into the Verizon store while an internal monlogue plays where they debate whether to buy something ... they're so smooth. I would be totally shocked if I were to find out that the gravelly average-guy voice actor was a different person than the on-screen actors. Just completely shocked.

I thought his recent tweet was more a reflection of the incoherence of frustration and rage than any reflection on his English. I have students who have ONLY English who have those over-the-top moments and write comparably badly.

I know it makes someone seem unlikeable when they bitch a lot, but I'm going say: I'll bet tomorrow there will be all kinds of strawman arguments defending Francona's insanity saying something like, "Leaving Lester out there was perfectly logical! You see, Beckett had just pitched a full start last night! So you see, the manager's hands were tied."